Good Question: How Can I Make Creamier Ice Cream?

It's just barely spring, but already our thoughts are turning to ice cream. This reader too - does anyone have any advice for Jessica?

Whenever I make ice custard or cream (with or without eggs) the dessert turns out icy instead of creamy, no matter the recipe. I have an ice cream maker that uses a bowl one puts in the freezer and try to use full fat dairy products. Any tips?

Jessica, without seeing the recipe itself it's hard to say, but we do know that recipes higher in egg yolks and fat usually turn out creamier. If you're using 4 or 5 egg yolks in a 1 1/2 quart recipe, for instance, along with half milk and half cream, it would be hard for that ice cream to be icy instead of creamy.

This ice cream food science page suggests leaving the mix to chill in the fridge overnight before putting in the ice cream maker. We try to do this and get the mix thoroughly chilled.

Our other thought is that perhaps you should experiment with the mixing time. Perhaps you are freezing the ice cream for too short a period in the ice cream maker - leaving it under-processed when you put it in the freezer, where it will develop more ice shards.

That is just a guess, though, since it seems like your question shows that you are already addressing our first response - more fat! Fattier ice cream is in general much easier to get smooth and creamy than lowfat homemade ice cream. More suggestions for Jessica on creamy homemade ice cream?